The Beit Bridge District Hospital, in conjunction with the World Vision, has started upgrading the local mortuary at a cost of R100 000.

The facility has not been functioning since last November, following the breakdown of its cooling system at the height of the cholera outbreak in the border town.

The acting chief medical officer of the Beit Bridge Hospital, Dr Richard Majangara, said they had since procured the required machinery from South Africa, following the assistance from World Vision. “Hopefully by next month the contractors will have completed installing the cooling system, after which we can then reopen the mortuary to the public,” he said.

The mortuary, which was designed to cater for only six bodies at a given time, was, however, at times forced accommodate as many as 60 bodies, mostly unclaimed border jumpers found in bushy areas along the Limpopo River, resulting in the constant breaking down of the machinery.

Majangara said that once it has been refurbished, the mortuary will have the capacity to accommodate 20 bodies. The mortuary was closed to the public in November, forcing locals with deceased relatives to ferry the bodies of their loved ones to mortuaries in neighbouring Musina.

“We also managed to repair our generator and autoclave machine, following the assistance we got from the International Organization for Migration,” Majangara said.

The maternity ward at Beit Bridge District Hospital is also not functioning because the theatre is not working, a development that has resulted in the suspension of operations by caesarian section.